Saturday, November 29, 2008

I was successful in not burning down the house. ...And the turkey didn't turn out half bad either!

We had some anxiety though. The fryer that I bought is a 'safety' fryer. It has a few features to prevent you from maiming yourself, and house fires. The good was the flared top section to prevent overflows and the high cradle that hugs the pot so it is basically one piece with the burner. The bad was the safety control that was supposed to shut the burner down if the oil got in the range of 300°-390°. The turkey is cooked at 350°. Great idea, poorly implemented. Mine shut off at 300°. The first time it happened it almost gave me a heart attack. Some fiddling and it came back on (it has a pilot light). The second time, my heart raced, again some fiddling and it was back on. The third time and many following we let it do it's thing, and it kept the oil at 300°.

Because of this temperature issue we gave the turkey a little more time to make sure it was done. This was a mistake as the turkey was a bit overdone. Thankfully not 'Christmas Vacation overdone', it was still good, just a bit dry for my tastes. My guess is that the sensor on the burner wasn't off as much as the cheap thermometer that came with the thing was. I'm boiling a pot of water as I type (multifunctional) to see what it says. We'll probably fry another turkey next weekend at its prescribed time and it should be perfect.

All in all I give the process of frying a turkey a thumbs up. The big positive, in my opinion, is that it gives the men that primal 'stand around the campfire with a beer in hand' time. All you men reading this know what I mean, the women are probably just rolling their eyes.